Client steering

ABSTRACT

Steering clients between access points (APs) or other sources of wireless signaling is contemplated. The client steering may be used to supplant or augment roaming capabilities of the clients with independent steering decisions made at the APs such as by utilizing information shared between the APs to generate a steering threshold for use in assessing whether clients should be steered from one AP to another.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No.62/449,391 filed Jan. 23, 2017, the disclosure of which is incorporatedin its entirety by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to steering clients between access points(APs) or other sources of wireless signaling, such as but notnecessarily limited to supplanting or augmenting roaming capabilities ofthe clients with independent steering decisions made at the APs.

BACKGROUND

Providing subscribers with reliable Wi-Fi coverage and capacity in amedium to large sized home or other location using a single Access Point(AP) can become challenging when an associated Wi-Fi network experiencesdead zones having little or no connectivity. The dead zones may occur atfringe areas in the home located at wireless signaling range limits ofthe AP and/or other areas receiving intermittent or insufficientwireless signals due to shielding, interferences or other influences.One contemplated solution to this problem includes deploying multipleAPs at strategic positions throughout the home to coordinate theirwireless service areas in a manner designed to provide wireless coveragesufficient to eliminate dead zones and/or to otherwise assure sufficientwireless service throughout the Wi-Fi network. In order to properly takeadvantage of an environment having multiple APs, clients, stations(STAs) or other subscriber devices being used to access the Wi-Finetwork in such an environment may be required to switch between theaccess points, such as when moving beyond a desired signaling range of aconnected to one of the APs, i.e., switch to another AP prior toreaching the dead zone or other poor performance limitation of theconnected to one of the APs.

Clients may switch from one AP to another AP in a roaming operationwhere a client disassociates from one AP and associates with another AP.The capabilities of clients to instigate roaming decisions may allowclients to make decisions locally based on information, measurements,metrics and other data as seen from the client perspective, e.g.,clients can look at available APs and decide the one they believe willmost likely service its needs in a desired manner. One problem withroaming operations being implemented according to such client-based orclient-centric decisions is that clients lack an overall view of theWi-Fi environment, particularly when multiple APs may be coordinating tofacilitate coverage for a home or other entity. The inability of clientsto see an entirety of the Wi-Fi environment, and/or to appreciateactivities of multiple APs and the clients connected thereto, can resultin lower overall performance of the Wi-Fi network, especially when theclients make decisions that are best for them as opposed to those thatare best for overall performance of the Wi-Fi network. One non-limitingaspect of the present invention contemplates ameliorating the networkdegradations and inefficiencies associated with client-based orclient-centric roaming decisions by supplanting or augmenting thosedecisions with a network-based or network-centric process for makingdecisions associated with clients switching from one AP to another.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a system having client steering in accordance withone non-limiting aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a diagram of a method for AP coordination inaccordance with one non-limiting aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart for a method of facilitating clientsteering in accordance with one non-limiting aspect of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosedherein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodimentsare merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in variousand alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale; somefeatures may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particularcomponents. Therefore, specific structural and functional detailsdisclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as arepresentative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variouslyemploy the present invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 10 having client steering in accordance withone non-limiting aspect of the present invention. The system 10 mayinclude a plurality of APs having capabilities sufficient to facilitateinterfacing wireless signals with a plurality of clients. The clients,which may optionally be referred to as stations (STAs), and the APsconnected or associated therewith (solid lines) may operate according toany suitable communication protocol and are predominately described forexemplary, non-limiting purposes as providing Wi-Fi signaling inaccordance with Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)802.11: Telecommunications and information exchange betweensystems—Local and metropolitan area networks—Specific requirements-Part11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY)Specifications, 2012, and/or other specifications within the IEEE 802.11series, including but not necessary limited to 802.11k, 802.11u and802.11v, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated in theirentireties by reference herein. The exemplary description of the presentinvention may be utilized with non-Wi-Fi environments and is predominantdescribed with respect to Wi-Fi for non-limiting purposes to demonstratethe capability of the present invention to facilitate client steeringwithin a wireless networking environment where APs may be utilized toprovide network-based or network-centric decisions associated withclients switching from one AP to another.

The system 10 is shown to include three APs operating to facilitateinterfacing the clients with an external or wide area network (WAN),such as that associated with an Internet service provider (ISP) or othermultiple system operator (MSO). A first AP (AP1) is shown to also beacting as a gateway (GW) with a second AP (AP2) and a third AP (AP3) areshown to be connected downstream therefrom. All data or otherinformation/messaging intend to be interface with the clients,collectively referred to as client data, and intended for exchange overthe WAN may be required to pass through the AP1 such that AP1 may beconsidered as the last link or hop between the WAN and the plurality ofAPs, i.e., any data originating with the clients for transmission to theWAN and any data originating on the WAN for transmission to the clientsmay pass through AP1. The wireless signaling of the APs may be utilizedto facilitate exchanging client data with the clients whereupon theexchanged client data may be communicated over a first local areanetwork (LAN) 12 established between the APs, which may be referred toas a backhaul network. The wireless signaling associated with the APs(shown with dashed circles centered at AP1, AP2 and AP3) may form asecond local area network 14 over which the clients communicate with theAPs such that the system 10 includes two LANs 12, 14—one 14 forcommunication between the APs and the clients and one 12 forcommunication between the APs.

The second LAN 14, i.e., the Wi-Fi or other network 14 for facilitatingcommunications between the APs and the clients, may be entirely composedof wireless signaling associated with the APs. One non-limiting aspectof the present invention contemplates the system 10 operating in a homeor other location where it may be desirable to provide a singularinterface for subscribers, such as to allow subscribers to easily locatetheir wireless network (the second LAN 14) without having to distinguishthe AP facilitating communication with the client/device the subscriberis using. The APs may enable the singular interface concept through useof the same service set ID (SSID), i.e., each AP may broadcast identicalSSIDs and facilitate wireless signaling optionally over multiple bandsand/or channels. The APs may be collectively part of the same extendedservice set (ESS) and utilize different basic service set IDs (BSSIDs)for each basic service set (BSS), e.g., each AP in the illustratedexample, to enable the clients to associate with the second LAN 14without the subscribers having to distinguish one AP from another. Thefirst LAN 12 may be distinguished from the second LAN 14 at least in sofar as the clients being unable to connect with or associate with thefirst LAN 12 or otherwise access signaling communicated thereover. Thesignaling may be carried over the first LAN 12 wirelessly and/or wiredlybetween the APs, e.g., part of the first LAN 12 may be wireless andanother part may be wired, and/or part of the same communication mediumas the second LAN 14, such as through tunneling, virtual networking,etc.

One non-limiting aspect of the present invention contemplates executinga coordination protocol amongst the APs to facilitate networkoptimization through steering of clients from one AP to another AP. Thecontemplated coordination and client steering may be executed betweenthe APs, i.e., with APs making decisions and instructing thecorresponding operations of the clients, as opposed to and optionallyindependently of roaming or other client-based or client-centriccapabilities to facilitate associating and disassociating with otherAPs. The AP coordination capabilities of the present invention may bedistinct and separate from individual capabilities of the clients tomake 802.11 roaming decisions or other decisions associated withassessing AP suitability. Such client-based capabilities may optionallybe used to augment or supplement the coordination contemplated hereinand/or be completely supplanted or partially disabled or overridden infavor of relying solely upon the AP coordination to facilitate clientassociations and/or disassociations with the APs. The AP coordinationmay include the APs exchanging associated client reports (ACRs) andutilizing client information and/or other data included therein ortransmitted therewith to facilitate client steering operations whereclients may be individually instructed by or controlled through the APsto associate and/or disassociate from APs for purposes of addressing andoptimizing network performance and optimization metrics.

FIG. 2 illustrates a diagram 20 of a method for AP coordination inaccordance with one non-limiting aspect of the present invention. Themethod generally relates to the APs establishing a coordinatorrelationship and thereafter utilizing the coordinated relationship tofacilitate AP-based steering of clients from one AP to another. The APcoordination may be distributed insofar as the APs may each includecapabilities sufficient to facilitate making decisions and requestingAPs and/or clients to execute in response thereto. The AP-baseddecision-making process may be utilized to produce network-based ornetwork-centric steering decisions to optimize a home networkingenvironment without having to employ a wireless local area controller(WLC), or at least without a WLC within the home or as part of ordownstream of the GW. Each AP may include a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium having a plurality of non-transitoryinstructions stored thereon and executable with a processor tofacilitate one or more of the operations contemplated herein. The APcoordination may commence with the APs executing a coordinate ESSprocess 22 where the APs may discover each other, such as through a UPnPor other suitable protocol, and thereafter establishing the first LAN 12or otherwise perform operations sufficient to facilitate exchangingconfiguration, programming, variables and other information contemplatedherein to facilitate steering clients, e.g., the coordinate ESS process22 may instigate as new APs are added and/or removed from the home. Theinformation shared between the access points as part of the coordinateESS process 22 may include a number of configuration parameters to beutilized when the APs make decisions and other operational executionsassociated with establishing their respective BSSs within the Wi-Finetwork.

An ACR exchange process 24 may commence after the APs have establishedthe first LAN 12 and communicate the configuration parameters and otherinformation associated with coordinating the activities necessary forsupporting wireless services in the contemplated manner. The ACRexchange process 24 may include the APs each generating an ACR and thencommunicating that ACR to each of the other APs, i.e., each AP generatesone ACR and shares it with each of the other APs. The ACRs may be files,XML schema, documents or other constructs sufficient for communicatinginformation between the APs. The individual ACRs may include metricssufficient for representing data, measurements, information, etc.associated with operations, capabilities, conditions and other settingsas seen or experienced by the APs and the clients. Such metricalinformation originating from the APs or generated thereat may beconsidered as AP metrics where the same or different metricalinformation when originating from the clients or generated thereat maybe considered as client metrics. One non-limiting aspect of the presentinvention contemplates differentiating between AP metrics and clientmetrics for purposes of facilitating the steering decision processescontemplated herein. The AP metrics may optionally be differentiatedfrom the client metrics at least in so far as the clients are unaware ofor lack access to some or all of the AP metrics due to inherentprocessing limitations and/or lack of visibility to the other APs and/orclients affecting the Wi-Fi network.

The lack of awareness or other limitations of the clients in processingof the AP metrics may allow the APs to make better steering decisionsusing information otherwise unavailable to the clients. The use ofinformation different than that available to the clients is contemplatedto result in improved steering decisions and overall Wi-Fi optimization,especially when addressing the possibility of clients make decisionsthat are best for them as opposed to those that are best for overallperformance of the Wi-Fi network. One non-limiting aspect of the presentinvention contemplates utilizing AP-based steering decision incooperation with client-based steering decisions, such as by allowingclient-based steering decisions during transmission lulls or otherintervals of the clients that may be difficult or impossible toaccurately detect with the APs and/or when the nature of the roamingdecisions may be unlikely to affect overall network performance, e.g.,when network throughput is above a minimum threshold and/or the numberof clients attempting to access or part of the Wi-Fi network isinsignificant. Using deep packet inspection (DPI) or other suitableassessment capabilities, the APs can decide to steer clients when theirnetwork activity is low or is such that a gap in network connectivitywould be unlikely to affect the client's application performance, unlessthe client must be steered before it loses all network connectivity. TheAPs may DPI, for example, to refrain from steering during a two-wayvideo or phone call unless absolutely necessary but allow steeringduring one-way video viewing.

One non-limiting aspect of the present invention contemplates improvingand maximizing performance by overriding or otherwise preventing theclients from executing any roaming decisions, or least roaming decisionsassociated with moving from one AP to another AP within the SSID.Reliance on the APs to make a totality of the steering decisions undernormal operating conditions or when certain operating conditions arepresent may be beneficial in assuring certain network performancesduring identifiable periods of time, which may be beneficial ineliminating complexities associated with accommodating client-basedsteering decisions while attempting to manage overall networkperformance or otherwise bring network performance into a desiredequilibrium that would otherwise be potentially affected byunanticipated or unexpected client-based decisions to switch APs.Optionally, when the steering/roaming decisions are being performed bythe APs in a network-based or network-centric manner, the APs mayprogram or otherwise prevent the clients associated therewith fromroaming according to client-based roaming decisions absent a matchingsteering decision from one of the APs.

One non-limiting aspect of the present invention contemplates sharingthe ACRs and/or other information therein according to the processesdisclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/874,383, entitledAccess Point Coordination, the disclosure of which is herebyincorporated in its entirety by reference herein. The ACRs in a mannerconsistent with the incorporated patent application may include both APmetrics and client metrics, e.g., an AP generating one of the ACRs mayinclude AP metrics determined thereat as well as client metrics receivedfrom or for clients within its communication range. The incorporatedpatent application includes a number of variables, metrics, data andother information being exchanged between the APs as well as beingreceived from the clients. The data included therein may bedifferentiated according to the AP metrics and client metric demarcationnoted herein to facilitate its use and application with the presentinvention. The formatting, transmission and other processes associatedwith establishing and sharing the ACRs may also be performed in a mannerconsistent with that described in the incorporated patent application.The ACR exchange process may occur at a high-frequency such that each ofthe APs essentially have the same information available to make steeringdecisions based on the same set of factors, i.e., any transmission timedifferences may be insignificant for purposes of making the steeringdecisions.

An AP processing operation 28 may correspond with the APs making thecontemplated steering decisions following exchange of the ACRs. Onenon-limiting aspect of the present invention contemplates each of theAPs essentially simultaneously making their own steering decisions basedon the ACRs provided from the other APs. This decision-making processmay include the APs comparing the AP metrics to the client metrics forpurposes of determining whether a client should be steered from one APto another AP. The individuality of each AP making their own steeringdecision may be beneficial in avoiding situations where one AP controlsor interferes with operations of the another AP in a manner that mayharm its operation. To avoid inadvertently disassociating clients orundertaking other actions prior to availability of another AP, thesteering decisions may be made in such a manner that the APs presume,even when steering thresholds are surpassed, that clients connectedthereto are to remain connected until requested by another AP forsteering. An AP (target AP) may request another AP (source AP) to steera client thereto in response to making a steering decision that one ormore clients of the source AP has surpassed a steering decisionthreshold warranting steering to the target AP. In the event anothertarget AP also determines that a steering decision threshold warrantingsteering to the another target AP is surpassed, the source AP may thenbe responsible for deciding which one of the two target APs the clientshould be steered to, e.g., the client may be steered to the one of APssurpassing the threshold by the greatest amount or to the AP having thelowest MAC address or other arbitrator in the case of the thresholdbeing surpassed equally, i.e., a tie.

Each of the APs within the Wi-Fi network may be considered as a targetAP for any client disassociated therefrom such that each of those targetAPs may be responsible for individually determining whether the clientsassociated with another AP should be steered thereto. Making thesteering decisions may require each AP to perform an iterative processwhereby a steering decision is made for each client associated withanother AP. In this manner and with respect to the exemplaryillustration of FIG. 1, AP1 may be required to make steering decisionsfor clients A, B, C, D, E, F and G; AP2 may be required to make steeringdecisions for clients B, C, D, E, F and G; and AP3 may be required tomake steering decisions for clients A and C. Client H is shown to beunassociated/unconnected with the APs and may be omitted from thesteering decision processing until it associates with one of the APs.The presence of the unassociated client H may influence performance ofthe Wi-Fi network and information associated therewith may be includedas part of the AP metrics and/or the client metrics, e.g., probes andother responses may be communicated from the unassociated client H andutilized to assess its presence and influence or potential influence onthe Wi-Fi network. While the present invention contemplates amelioratingsome of the decision-making processing by allowing a source AP to omitsteering decisions for clients already associated therewith, the sourceAPs may make steering decisions for associated/connected clients forpurposes of generating trends, creating historical trends or for otherreasons, such as to request another AP to accept one or more of itsclients if the Wi-Fi network operates without the presumption thatclients are to stay with a connected to AP until steering is requestedby another AP.

The AP processing operation 28 may result in a decision to execute asteering operation whereupon each of the APs deciding to execute such asteering operation may commence a corresponding steering operation.While multiple APs may commence steering operations, FIG. 2 illustratesan exemplary steering operation 36 between AP2 and AP3, which may becharacteristic of the operations associated with facilitating steeringoperations for any one of the other APs. When AP2 (target) decides thata client should be steered to it, it may send a steering request message38 to AP3 (source) that the client is associated with. The source AP(AP3) may then respond with a steering response message 40 indicatingwhether or not it will steer the client to the target AP (AP2). To avoidan event where two target APs send a steering request message 38 for thesame client to the source AP, the source AP may be required to wait aminimum of Y*X seconds to receive all steering request messages 38 fromthe time it receives the first steering request message 38, where Y is amultiplier and X is a frequency in which the ACRs are shared. Methodsfor steering the clients may include 802.11v BSS transition managementor by disassociating a client and then Blacklisting (i.e. ignoring ProbeRequests/Association Requests from a client) at the source AP. Both thesource and target APs may tell each other all the steering methods theysupport within the shared ACRs so that the source AP can look at thesupported steering methods of the target AP and choose the best methodsupported by both, which may be identified in the steering requestmessage 38.

The source AP may receive multiple steering request messages 38 fromdifferent APs and assess those requests versus the ACRs to decide whichrequest, or even none, it wants to grant. Optionally data included aspart of the ACRs or the configuration parameters may dictate automaticaction on the part of the source APs, such as by granting all steeringrequests, and/or including algorithms or other mechanisms for makingdecisions on whether to grant a steering request, such as by comparingtarget AP loading/airtime utilization and target AP viewed RSSI ofclient to thresholds defined relative to the source AP or otherbenchmarks. The target AP may be required to always send a steeringresult message 42 to the source AP, whether or not the steering issuccessful. If successful, the target AP may send the steering resultmessage 42 as soon as the client associates to it with a result codeindicating a success. If the client does not associate to the target APwithin Z seconds, e.g., 10 seconds, of the target AP receiving thesteering response message, the target AP may indicate a failure resultcode within the steering result message 42. The result may be used totell the source AP if the client was successfully steered to the targetAP or if the steering failed, which may be beneficial in enabling thesource AP to ensure its associated client list is accurate as in somecases a source AP may think the client is still associated, i.e., on itsclient list, even after the client associates to another AP. The failureof the source AP to recognize a client has associated with another AP orshould otherwise be omitted from its client list can be caused by themethod in which the client leaves the source AP.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart 50 for a method of facilitating clientsteering in accordance with one non-limiting aspect of the presentinvention. The client steering may correspond with AP-baseddecision-making processes executed as part of the above-described APprocessing operation 28. The client steering may be individuallyperformed at each of the APs of as a function of the ACR and/or otherdata available thereto and is described for exemplary non-limitingpurposes with respect to being implemented in a manner whereby targetAPs request source APs to steer clients. The individual decisions beingmade by each of the APs to execute a steering operation may befacilitated with the non-transitory computer-readable mediums associatedwith each AP including corresponding instruction sufficient forexecuting or facilitating execution of the various operationscontemplated herein. While the present invention is predominatelydescribed with respect to the client steering decisions being madeindividually at the APs, the present invention fully contemplates itsuse and application in other environments where a controller or otherentity may be tasked with making similar decisions on behalf of the APs,such as when the networking environment is non-Wi-Fi or cellular and/orfacilitated with a WLC.

Block 52 relates to the APs processing AP metrics included within theexchanged ACRs and/or otherwise available thereto. The AP metrics madegenerally relate to information representative of activities ongoing orcapable of occurring at each of the APs. In the exemplary illustrationof FIG. 1, AP1 one may process its own AP metrics as a well is that forAP2 and AP3 with the remaining APs similarly processing their own APmetrics as well as that of the other APs. One non-limiting aspect of thepresent invention contemplates demarcating AP metrics from clientmetrics based on how the data associated therewith may be used in makingthe contemplated steering decision, such as in the manner described inmore detail below. While additional AP metrics may be utilized withoutdeviating from the scope and contemplation of the present invention, theAP metrics are described herein for exemplary purposes to include a loadcost, an airtime utilization (AU) cost and a distance cost whereby asummation of the cost may be used to a final AP cost. The final AP costmay be used to represent performance of one AP versus each of the otherAPs in a manner sufficient to assess the relative operation of each APwithin the context of the multi-AP, Wi-Fi network environment where theactivities of one AP may influence the operation of the other APs. Thefinal AP cost, at least in this manner, may be beneficial in providing abenchmark to facilitate comparing the APs to each other.

One non-limiting aspect of the present invention contemplatesnormalizing the AP metrics relative to an integer scale such that valuesfor each metric may be represented with an integer. One contemplatedinteger scale corresponds with normalizing the AP metrics to a one byte,unsigned integer value within an integer scale of 0-255. The use of suchan integer scale may be beneficial in providing 255 levels of resolutionwhile balancing the data processing and time associated with calculatingthe integers, i.e., one byte may be relatively easy to calculate andadditional levels of resolution beyond 255 may be unlikely to providesufficient differentiation to warrant use. To compensate for thepossibility of one or more of the APs having capabilities of operatingmore than one radio, e.g., facilitating wireless signaling at 2.4 GHzand 5 GHz, the AP metrics may be related to each of the available oroperating radios, or more particularly, the BSSs associated therewith.The load cost, the airtime utilization cost, the distance costs and/orother costs derived from the AP metrics may thereby be represented on aper BSS basis and with a corresponding value within the range of 0-255so as to facilitate normalizing each value, i.e., each AP metric, to oneanother.

The load cost derived from the AP metrics may be expressed based on anagreed-upon or other maximum number of clients that a BSS can support,which for example may correspond with a 2.4 GHz BSS supporting a maximumof 16 clients and a 5.0 GHz BSS supporting a maximum of 32 clients. Theload cost may be calculated as follows:

for 2.4 Ghz band−(sqrt(2)̂x)−1, x=number of clients connected

for 5.0 Ghz band−(4th root(2)̂x)−1, x=number of clients connected

The number of clients connected corresponds with the number of clientsconnected to a particular BSS of an AP such that the corresponding loadcost represents a value for each BSS based on the number of connectedclients. The illustrated formulas indicating the 2.4 GHz utilizing asquare root and the 5.0 GHz utilizing a fourth square root to addressthroughput differences between 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz in a manner believedbeneficial in relating AP loading when some APs may not include multipleradios or the capabilities to operate across multiple frequency bands.

The airtime utilization cost derived from the AP metrics may beexpressed based on a percentage of airtime utilized over some agreedupon interval of time, which may be specified with AP coordinationvariables or otherwise established between the APs. The airtimeutilization cost may, like the load cost, may be calculated on a per BSSbasis as follows:

(2̂)−1, x=percentage of airtime utilization over time interval/10

One non-limiting aspect of the present invention contemplatesoperational constraints and other limitations resulting in the BSSsessentially maximizing airtime usage when airtime utilization is at 80%such that the above formula may generate an airtime utilization (AU)cost of 0 when the airtime utilization is 0%, e.g., AU cost equals2̂(0/10)−1, and an airtime utilization cost of 255 when the airtimeutilization is 80%, e.g., AU cost equals 2̂(80/10)−1.

The distance costs derived from the AP metrics may be expressed based onhow far away the corresponding BSS is from the GW and calculated asfollows:

(2̂x)−1, x=distance.

One non-limiting aspect of the present invention contemplates selectingthe distance to represent a number of hops from the GW of thecorresponding BSS with a maximum number of hops being set to 8 such thatthe distance is represented with an integer between 0-8, e.g., 0 whenthe BSS is part of the GW, 1 when the BSS is the first AP from the GW(e.g., AP2) and 2 when the BSS is the second AP from the GW (e.g., AP3),etc. until a maximum value of 8. The contemplated use of integersbetween 0-8 is believed to be beneficial in addressing networktopologies to represent costs associated with communicating data overthe first LAN 12 based on travel distance to the GW. One non-limitingaspect of the present invention contemplates optionally weighting thedistance cost based on other factors in addition to or in place of thenumber of hops from a GW to generate a value also representative ofnetwork topology and/or distance from a GW. These additional options mayinclude: employing bandwidth, delay, wired and/or wireless backhaulconnectivity to weight or adjust distance values to compensate forvariations between hops and distance away from the gateway router. Thenumber of hops to the gateway, throughput and delay of the connectionsmay affect the distance cost analysis, e.g., wireless AP to APconnection could be 4 and wired connection can be 2 such that backhaulrouting cost to send data between two APs maybe inversely proportionalto the throughput between the APs. Optionally, if a link metric betweenall APs is known, those link metrics may be utilized as an alternativevalue for the distance x in the above calculation of the BSS distancecost, e.g. between AP1 and AP2 the metric may represent throughput(e.g., T12) such that the distance cost over this link may be 1/T12,which may be similarly summed or assessed for each other link betweenthe AP and GW to generate the x value.

The final AP cost may be similarly determined on a per BSS basis as asummation of the corresponding load cost, airtime utilization cost anddistance cost, optionally with those cost values being weightedaccording to selectable weightages to affect the influence thereof onthe final AP cost calculation. The final AP cost may be calculated asfollows:

((BSS load cost/weightage(a))+(BSS airtime utilizationcost/weightage(b))+(BSS distance cost/weightage(c)))/number of metrics

The foregoing demonstrates one non-limiting manner for calculating afinal AP cost for each BSS with the individual values (metrics) beingweighted prior to their summation. The weightages (e.g., a, b, c) may beselected on a per-BSS basis such that the weightages applied to one BSSmay be different than those applied to another BSS, which may bebeneficial in compensating for some BSSs having wide differences inoperating capabilities, and/or the weightages may be applied equally toeach of the individual cost metrics, i.e., each BSS being compared mayhave the corresponding metrics weighed with the same weightage tomaintain consistency. The summation of the cost metrics may be dividedby the total number of metrics being summed to keep the summation withinthe integer scale of 0-255 such that the number of metrics may changedepending on whether more or less or different metrics are used than theexemplarily illustrated load, airtime utilization and distance costs.

One non-limiting aspect of the present invention contemplates selectingthe weightages (e.g., a, b, c) for each of the integer values beingweighted from a listing of weightages associated with a plurality ofnetwork performances. The network performances may relate to particularoperating characteristics of the Wi-Fi network, such as to prioritizeperformance for video streaming over burst data transmissions for loTdevices. The weightages may be tabulated within a listing thatcross-references the weightages to be used with each of the AP metricsfor the corresponding network performance. The APs may coordinate toselect the one of the plurality of network performances to be used insetting the weightages, which may optionally change over time or inresponse to historical behavior/needs of the Wi-Fi network. Testing ofthe present invention indicates empirically that a weightage value of 2for the load cost, a weightage value of 6 for the distance cost and aweightage of 2 for the airtime utilization cost may maximize overallnetwork performance for the given set of AP metrics.

Block 54 relates to each of the APs processing client metrics includedwithin the exchanged ACRs and/or otherwise available thereto. The clientmetrics may be processed by the APs on a per client basis to relate arelative capability/cost for each client to communicate with each of theAPs. One non-limiting aspect of the present invention contemplates theclient metrics corresponding with a band cost and a signal-to-noiseratio (SNR) cost. The band cost and the SNR cost may be utilized togenerate the final client cost normalized in the above-described mannerwith respect to the integer scale of 0-255 to provide a representablerelationship to the final AP cost sufficient to facilitate makingsteering decisions.

The client band cost derived from the client metrics may be calculatedto generate a factor for representing capabilities of each client tocommunicate with different radios, e.g., whether each client supportsone or both of 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz communications. The client capabilityto communicate with different radios may then be related to one or moreradios the client band associated with a particular BSS to provide anassessment of the client capabilities to communicate with that BSS. Theclient band cost may be calculated as follows:

If BSS band is 2.4 Ghz:

-   -   client supports only IEEE 802.11b/g: scale factor=1/4    -   client supports IEEE 802.11n: scale factor=1/2    -   client supports IEEE 802.11ac: scale factor=1

If BSS band is 5.0 Ghz:

-   -   client supports only IEEE 802.11b/g: scale factor=1    -   client supports IEEE 802.11n: scale factor=1/2    -   client supports IEEE 802.11ac: scale factor=1/4

The scale factor, e.g., 1, 1/2 and 1/4, used to represent the clientband cost may be employed as described below to facilitate calculatingthe final client cost, which for exemplary purposes corresponds withdetermining the client cost as a scale factor instead of an integerwithin the 0-255 scale. The above formula notes the use of IEEE802.11b/g, 802.11n and 802.11ac to represent client devices respectivelyhaving capabilities limited to 2.4 GHz communications (802.11b/g),capabilities for both 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz communications (802.11n) andcapabilities limited to 5.0 GHz communications (802.11ac). The use ofthe IEEE designation is shown for exemplary non-limiting purposes as thepresent invention fully contemplates using other, such as IEEE 802.11adfor 60 GHz or other references suitable to demarcating availablebandwidth capabilities of the clients.

The client signal-to-noise (SNR) cost derived from the client metricsmay be generated to calculate an integer value sufficient forrepresenting within the 0-255 scale how well each client can communicatewith each BSS of the APs. The client SNR cost may be calculated asfollows:

client SNR cost=−(RSSI+15)*3

The RSSI may correspond with a relative signal strength indicator (RSSI)utilized to represent relative signal strength between each client andeach of the BSSs. A range for maximum and minimum RSSI values that aclient may have may be set to [−15, −100] with −15 indicating the clientto be very close and −100 indicating the client to be at a maximumdistance. Optionally, actual SNR values may be normalized and utilizedin place of the RSSI.

The final client cost derived from the client metrics may be calculatedon a per BSS basis as follows:

client cost=client SNR cost*client band cost

The contemplated final client cost may be beneficial in providing aninteger value within the range of 0-255 sufficient for balancing thecommunication capabilities of each client relative to each BSS, e.g.,whether the client supports 2.4 GHz and/or 5.0 GHz communications,relative to signaling distance of the client to the corresponding BSS.While the use of additional client metrics in facilitating tabulation ofthe final client cost is foreseen, one non-limiting aspect of thepresent invention contemplates demarcating the AP metrics from theclient metrics according to their use in calculating the final AP costand the final client cost, i.e., the same metrics would not be used inboth of the final AP cost in the final client cost, which may bebeneficial in maximizing the integrity and independence of the costcalculations, particularly with respect to apportioning the influencesto particular behaviors of the APs and the clients.

Block 56 relates to the APs setting a steering decision threshold to beused in making decisions as to whether a client steering operationshould be instigated. One non-limiting aspect of the present inventioncontemplates the APs coordinating to set the steering decision thresholdin a manner sufficient to assess whether a client currently connected toone BSS should be steered to another BSS. One contemplated strategy forsetting the steering decision threshold based on the AP metrics may beas follows:

steering threshold=(final BSS cost for source AP)−(final BSS cost fortarget AP)

The steering threshold may be calculated on a per BSS basis by each ofthe APs with each AP iteratively performing the calculations as thesource AP relative to each of the other APs being target APs. Optionallyto limit hysteresis or clients switching to frequently, the differencein the final cost between two APs may need to be at least greater thangreater than a predefined hysteresis value (e.g., 20).

Block 58 relates to the APs making steering decision based on whetherindividual clients exceed the steering threshold associated therewith.The steering threshold may be based on a client switching from a sourceAP to a target AP such that the corresponding steering decision may bebased on whether a difference between the client's performance at theBSS of the source AP and that same client's performance at the BSS ofthe target AP is sufficient to warrant executing a steering operation tosteer the client from the source AP to the target AP. One contemplatedstrategy for making the steering decision based on the client metricsmay be as follows:

steer if ((final client cost for source BSS)−(final client cost fortarget BSS))>(maximum of (steering decision threshold and hysteresisvalue))

A greater steering threshold occurs when the AP metrics indicate the BSSof the target AP to be more loaded than the source AP and/or if the BSSof the target AP has a greater airtime utilization or distance cost suchthat the client's performance, if switched to the target AP, must besufficient to justify the corresponding steering operation. The steeringthreshold cost, or in other words the difference between clientperformance at one BSS in comparison to another BSS, can be adjusted upor down depending on desired influences, e.g., rather than using thenoted threshold a weightage may be applied to increase or decrease thecorresponding value. The weightage for example may decrease thethreshold when it may be desirable to reduce the influence of BSS costversus client cost in the weightage may be increased to increase theinfluence of BSS cost versus client cost. The plurality of networkparameters utilized to facilitate selection of the way the weightagesoptional utilize when regulating the final BSS cost may include valuesfor selecting weightages to be applied to the steering decisionthreshold.

While exemplary embodiments are described above, it is not intended thatthese embodiments describe all possible forms of the invention. Rather,the words used in the specification are words of description rather thanlimitation, and it is understood that various changes may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.Additionally, the features of various implementing embodiments may becombined to form further embodiments of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for facilitating steering of a clientwithin a wireless network having a plurality of access points (APs), themethod comprising: determining AP metrics for the APs; determiningclient metrics for the client; setting a steering decision thresholdbased on the AP metrics; and making a steering decision for the clientbased on whether the client metrics exceed the steering decisionthreshold.
 2. The method of claim 1 further comprising normalizing theAP metrics relative to an integer scale, the normalizing resulting ineach of the AP metrics being individually represented with an integer.3. The method of claim 2 further comprising: generating an AP cost valuefor each of the APs, the AP cost value being a summation of the integersassociated with the AP metrics of the AP corresponding therewith; andgenerating the steering decision threshold to equal a difference betweenthe AP cost values for two of the APs.
 4. The method of claim 3 furthercomprising: generating a client cost value based on the client metrics;and determining the client metrics exceed the steering decisionthreshold when the client cost value is greater than the AP cost value.5. The method claim 4 further comprising weighting one or more of theintegers prior to the summation, the weighting being sufficient toincrease or decrease an influence of the corresponding AP metric whengenerating the steering decision.
 6. The method claim 5 furthercomprising: determining a desired network performance for the wirelessnetwork; and selecting weightages for each of the one or more integersto be weighted, including selecting the weightages from a listing ofweightages associated with a plurality of network performances, theselected weightages corresponding with the weightages in the listingassociated with a one of the plurality of network performances matchingthe desired network performance.
 7. The method claim 2 furthercomprising setting the integer scale such that each of the integers areindividually representable with a single byte.
 8. The method claim 2further comprising setting the integer scale such that each of theintegers occur between 0 and
 255. 9. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: summing the AP metrics for a first AP of the APs to generatea first AP cost; summing the AP metrics for a second AP of the APs togenerate a second AP cost; setting the steering decision threshold toequal the second AP cost minus the first AP cost; summing the clientmetrics to generate a client cost; and determining the client metricsexceed the steering decision threshold when the client cost is greaterthan the steering decision threshold.
 10. The method claim 9 furthercomprising executing a steering operation when the client metrics exceedthe steering decision threshold, the steering operation resulting in theclient disassociating from the first AP and subsequently associatingwith the second AP.
 11. The method claim 10 further comprising:receiving a first report at the second AP, the first report includingthe AP metrics for the first APs; summing the AP metrics for the firstAP and the second AP at the second AP following receipt of the firstreport thereat; receiving a client report at the second AP, the clientreport including the client metrics for the client; summing the clientmetrics at the second AP following receipt of the client report thereat;and instigating the steering operation with transmission of a steeringrequest message from the second AP to the first AP.
 12. The method claim11 further comprising executing the steering operation without exposingthe steering request message to the client.
 13. The method of claim 11further comprising transmitting the steering request message from thesecond AP to the first AP over a backhaul network operatingindependently of the wireless network, the client lacking access to thebackhaul network such that the client is unable to access the steeringrequest message when transmitted from the second AP to the first AP. 14.The method of claim 13 further comprising determining the AP metricsfrom information included in one or more associated client reports(ACRs) transmitted over the backhaul network from each of the pluralityof access points.
 15. The method of claim 11 further comprisingtransmitting a steering result message from the second AP to the firstAP following association of the client with the second AP, the steeringresult message instructing the first AP to remove the client from aclient list of the first AP.
 16. A non-transitory computer-readablemedium having a plurality of instructions executable with a processor ofa first access point (AP), the first AP being one a plurality of APscoordinating to support a wireless network, the plurality ofinstructions being sufficient for: determining AP metrics for theplurality of APs; and setting a steering decision threshold based on adifference between the AP metrics of the first AP and the AP metrics ofa second AP.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16further comprising the plurality of instructions being sufficient for:determining client metrics for a client associated with a second AP ofthe plurality of APs; and making a steering decision for the clientbased on whether the client metrics exceed the steering decisionthreshold.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17further comprising the plurality of instructions being sufficient for:determining the AP metrics from information included in one or moreassociated client reports (ACRs) transmitted from each of the pluralityof APs; transmission of a steering request message from the first AP tothe second AP when the client metrics exceed the steering decisionthreshold, the steering request message requesting steering of theclient to the first AP; and transmitting a steering result message fromthe first AP to the second AP following association of the client withthe second AP, the steering result message instructing the second AP toremove the client from a client list of the second AP.
 19. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 further comprisingthe plurality of instructions being sufficient for: determining ahysteresis value; and setting the steering decision threshold equal to:i) the difference when the difference is greater than the hysteresisvalue; and ii) the hysteresis value when the difference fails to begreater than the hysteresis value.
 20. A wireless system comprising: aplurality of access points for interfacing wireless signaling over afirst network with a plurality of clients; a second network forinterfacing signaling between each of the plurality of access points; agateway for interfacing the second network with a wide area network(WAN); wherein each of the access points generates an available clientreport (ACR) for sharing with each of the other APs, the ACRs includingAP metrics for the AP associated with the ACR corresponding therewith;and wherein each of the access points set a steering decision thresholdbased on the AP metrics to analyze whether clients associated withanother one of the access points are to be steered thereto.